St. Louis County, Minnesota
Gutter cleaning, repair and new gutters in Duluth, MN
Duluth gets about 31 inches of rain in a normal year, and on about 7 days a year an inch or more falls in a single day. The wettest season is summer (June to August), with about 12.4 inches; the driest is winter (December to February), with 3.0. Off a 1,000-square-foot roof, that comes to about 19,500 gallons a year for the gutters to carry.
Call (866) 228-6229 free call to a gutter contractor serving DuluthDuluth: rain and roofs
NOAA station USC00478349, 4 miBars to one scale; the longest is summer (June to August).
By heavy-rain days, Duluth falls near the middle of the 334 places in Minnesota on this site (7.3 a year). Its housing ranks 6th oldest by median year built of the 335 places in Minnesota on this site (half built by 1951). By first frost it falls among the latest for the first fall frost of the 336 places in Minnesota on this site (October 12).
When to clean gutters in Duluth
The first fall frost comes around October 12 in a typical year here, and the last spring frost around May 14 (median dates, NOAA normals). A fall cleaning set for the weeks after that frost, when the branches over the house are bare, gets the year’s leaves in one trip; a spring visit follows once the pollen and catkins have come down.
When to clean gutters explains how the trees over a roof change the schedule.
Gutter and downspout size for Duluth rain
Gutters are sized for the worst few minutes of a storm, not for the year. In Duluth the five-minute rain expected about once in ten years falls at 6.73 inches an hour (NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 8). At that rate one 2-by-3-inch downspout drains about 1,070 square feet of roof and one 3-by-4-inch downspout about 2,140, by the rule in the Copper Development Association’s design handbook. Try your own roof in the gutter and downspout calculator, which starts from this figure.
With about 56 inches of snow in a normal year here (NOAA normals), gutters carry ice as well as water. Ice dams start with heat from the house melting roof snow that refreezes at the edge (University of Minnesota Extension); the fix for the dam is in the attic, and the gutter’s part is to be hung strongly enough to take the weight.
The houses in Duluth
Half the homes in Duluth were built by 1951, 78% before 1980 (ACS 2020–2024). At that age a gutter has seen decades of leaves and storms, and the fascia it hangs from has too. On a house built before 1978, replacing more than 20 square feet of painted fascia or trim falls under the EPA’s lead-safe rule, so ask whether the crew is certified.
60% of households own their home, and 60% of homes are detached houses, 3% townhouses. If an association maintains the exterior, the gutters may be its job rather than yours; check before calling.
Hiring in Minnesota
Licensing for gutter work differs from state to state; ask a contractor in Duluth which license or registration they hold in Minnesota, and for proof of liability insurance. Hiring a gutter contractor
Gutter work in Duluth
With half the homes built by 1951, replacement gutters and the fascia behind them come up more often here than in newer suburbs. The line takes all of it: